The present invention relates to an apparatus for fitting a radioactive source with the object of simplifying the fitting and removal operations of a radioactive source with respect to irradiation equipment. More specifically, the apparatus according to the invention has been designed for use in the head of an ALCYON-type cobalt therapy means.
The invention also relates to an apparatus permitting the in situ repair of cobalt therapy heads of the same type.
According to the prior art, irradiation equipment using radioactive sources are subject to the requirement of fitting such sources and the changing thereof when the radioactive decay has become excessive, e.g. a few years in the case of .sup.60 CO. The extremely high activity prevailing in contact with the source and in the vicinity thereof makes such operations more difficult. Thus, these operations must either be carried out in shielded cells with expansion tongs, or in appropriate lead-shielded flasks or caskets.
In per se known manner, such apparatus comprise a radioactive source, complying with an approved model, which is externally shaped like a cylinder, which must not be modified prior to the filling by the active material, for adding anchoring devices or screw threads. This type of source is introduced into a cylindrical recess, in which it is then fixed by various means.
In a first embodiment, the source is fitted on a sliding valve sliding in a cobalt therapy installation and fixed in its recess or housing by a screw.
In another known embodiment, the source is fitted on a drum in an ALCYON-type irradiator and is fixed in its recess by circlips. These two embodiments suffer from various disadvantages, in that they are subject to difficulties during the installation or removal of the source with respect to an irradiator, particularly when it is a question of fitting or detaching a circlip relative to a shielded enclosure and using expansion tongs.